Healthcare

Healthcare settings such as hospitals and family doctor offices help Albertans improve their health by making healthier choices easier and by strengthening connections to community supports.

What Makes A Health Promoting Healthcare Setting?

Across Alberta, healthcare teams are creating healthy places and connections for patients and staff. Healthcare settings such as hospitals and family doctor offices are much more than places for treating illness. They help Albertans improve their health by making healthier choices easier and by strengthening connections to community supports.

When healthcare teams work collaboratively with each other and community partners, relationships between services are strengthened and Albertans are able to receive support within their communities towards health goals like quitting tobacco or reducing alcohol use. When healthcare leaders create conditions for the development of a healthy, health promoting workplace, healthcare staff are empowered to make healthier choices like increasing physical activity and eating healthier while at work.

Improving Health for Everyone

For Alberta to provide a quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans now and for generations to come, healthcare settings need to be places for health promotion. Working with Albertans, healthcare settings can take part in health promotion activities to prevent illness and chronic disease like cancer, and improve treatment outcomes like healing times. These actions will help to strengthen the delivery of care in the community and will decrease the burden on our healthcare system.

Building a Health Promoting Healthcare Setting

Every healthcare team interested in making their healthcare setting a better, healthier place can get started now! Great ideas often start with one enthusiastic individual and then the momentum spreads. By building action plans based on a healthcare setting’s strengths, connecting with other healthcare teams and partners in communities, and building on best practices, healthcare teams can create realistic and sustainable changes.

For healthcare teams interested in creating a culture that promotes health in a sustainable way, the Alberta Screening and Prevention Plus program for primary care teams and the Alberta Health Promoting Health Services program for other healthcare teams are great places to start.